GOD BLESS AMERICA – Bless it, indeed.
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| "Are you watching 'Idol' instead of reading this cool review?" (1) |
“Shut the
f**k up, you son of a b*tch. You’re getting on my nerves, dumb f**k.” How else
can you begin a review to such a fantastic movie that is both entertaining and
criticism cuisine at its best? Well, okay, you could start with shooting your
opposite with your freshly bought AK-47 but hey, my name ain’t Frank, so I’m
sticking to words while reviewing the movie which is –not really unpleasantly-
titled “God Bless America”, directed by Bobcat Goldthwait ("Sleeping Dogs Lie"), starring Joel
Murray, Tara Lynne Barr and running for about a hundred minutes. Rated R.
SYNOPSIS
Frank (Joel
Murray) has had enough of the downward spiral of American culture.
Divorced, recently fired, and possibly terminally ill, Frank truly has
nothing left to live for. But instead of taking his own life, he buys a
gun and decides to take out his frustration on the cruelest, stupidest, most
intolerant people he can imagine -- starting with some particularly odious
reality television stars.
Frank finds an unusual accomplice in a high-school student named Roxy (Tara
Lynne Barr), who shares his sense of rage and disenfranchisement.
Together they embark on a nationwide assault on our country’s most
irritating celebrities . . .
Written and Directed by taboo-busting filmmaker and comedian Bobcat Goldthwait
(Shakes the Clown, Sleeping Dogs Lie, World’s Greatest Dad), GOD
BLESS AMERICA is a truly dark and very funny comedy for anyone who’s had
enough of the dumbing down of our society.
This is how
Magnet Releasing, the company behind the movie, puts it. Now for the movie
itself and as always, spoilers are ahead. Why? Because this is a review for
f**k’s sake, you idiot. *Readying the Magnum 357.* ;)
“God Bless
America” (which now will be shortened to GBA for obvious reasons) is not your
typical, or beware, everyday movie. And it most certainly isn’t a mainstream
movie. Taking center-stage early on is Frank Murdoch, our leading character who
is a middle-age working man who is like most of the normal population. He has
an office job, noisy neighbors, a normal car and he hates modern reality TV. Okay,
seeing that really lots of people like these kinds of reality TV shows, you
might want to exclude that point for yourself. Then, he gets fired for
“molesting” a female co-worker or more this is used against him because he is
not part of the group, he doesn’t watch the shows the others do and therefore
he doesn’t laugh about the boss’ jokes and so on, you get it. To make things
even worse, his own daughter doesn’t want to see him anymore (he’s divorced)
for the weekends and he is diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor. Thus is beginning
an assault on every cliché a society has to offer. In this case, the American
society. Being accompanied by high-school student Roxy on his dark trip,
together they shoot what is getting on their nerves.
First, I
want to talk about the characters and their portrayal by the actors. Since this
movie is mainly focusing only on our two “heroes”, these two will be the ones
that I’ll get into detail the most.
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| "You like Reality TV, well here's my answer for you." (2) |
Frank, whom
you can identify with very easily, is a man who has seen too much sh*t, nicely
said. Reality TV can be the worst and wow, if you want to watch girls throw
tampons at each other the whole day, well you should either watch porn or
you’re gonna be brain-dead pretty soon.
So, who would scold Frank for being pissed when you hear your neighbors
shouting racist to society-racist (is there any better word to put it, tell me)
comments about what they learned while watching this sort of TV? Not me. And
after seeing “American Superstarz” (yeah, if not “Idol”, what else?), he
decided to shoot’em up (no movie reference intended). You know, all those that
are just mean to others because they have enough money or else to justify it to
themselves. Moral lesson #1: do not be mean to others when you’re rich. Or at
all.
Joel Murray
plays Frank as he did never play anyone/anything else. He is really getting one
with the character and you as viewer can feel it the second he appears on
screen. It is a powerful performance and is lacking nothing.
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| "This is better than reading Orwell in school." (3) |
Roxy is a
high-school student and teenage girl who is also fed up with life as people’s
dumb comments and reality TV as well make her the ultimate outsider to an
otherwise enjoyable world. While her character is not nearly as perfectly
written as Frank’s, it also got its perks. She is a growing-up girl who watches
classics than reality TV, who hates High-Fives that are not imaginary-only and
who just wants to have some vengeance fun on society. These are all
characteristics you should have – when you want to shoot people out of these
reasons. But her character comes around not as strong as Frank’s did – mainly
because of the fact that she ran away from home to join forces with Frank while
there apparently were TV ads running for her search. I mean, a dumb society
aside, but wouldn’t somebody notice the striking resemblance of her movie
theatre footage when seeing that ad afterwards? While that is not something
distinct to her character, it undermines her authenticity in a serious way
while she is also a little too ‘yeah, let’s do it”-like. (And the Lolita-part of hers wasn't really the brightest star of the movie but still enjoyable, not in a perverted way, of course.) But on the bright
side, Roxy gives Frank some hope back to actually be able to change something
in society and not just end up blowing his head off. And as bad as it sounds,
this is actually a good reason if you consider our modern-day society in some
way damaged as to how we look at fiction and reality problems. You cannot tell
me that the obvious point of the movie is wrong – at least you can’t do if you
think the new Smartphone out on the market is more important than for example
an oil spill in the ocean. And the one man in the world recognizing the
wrong-doing by demonstrating against the oil spill problem should shoot himself
because you want a newer phone? Yes, I know, this is one harsh example but
nevertheless it’s not that far-fetched as I’ve seen people being more emotional
about what new phone they should buy than what they could do to support the
environment or worrying about something else that is important to our life. Yes, even I have a Smartphone but
what I’m talking about is the extension of such worrying and if that extension
is misplaced or misdirected, then you have a problem. And that is the point the
movie is playing to, most obvious in the scene where Frank was discussing
habits of watching TV with his co-worker shortly before he was fired.
Tara Lynne
Barr’s performance as Roxy was thrilling and close as to very good as Murray’s
was but with a slight glitch: it can’t be felt as such as Murray shined in
every minute and somewhat stole the show for Barr, pushing her to be second
class throughout the film. Which she shouldn’t be looked at as she clearly
isn’t. A second watch could certainly help here.
Also, the
interacting between them seemed joyful and therefore was very pleasing to
watch.
STORY
OUTPLAY
Frank’s
journey begins with him stealing the sports car of his neighbor and then
shooting Chloe. So far, so good. Or bad, that is. He then is joined by Roxy and
together they become a team when Frank’s gun is out of ammunition to kill
Chloe’s mom and she comes in, grabbing a kitchen knife and stabbing her.
Together they embark on an assault on many more victims of “Social Dumbness”
and in the first hour (well, somewhere around that) there is nothing wrong. But
then the movie gets a little bit too sensitive and kills every mood the viewer
has build up to this point when Roxy and Frank seek shelter in a motel. From
there on ‘til they break up because Frank finds out that Roxy has a caring yet
“dumb” family and lied to him, the movie is not at its highest possible like
before and afterwards. It is mediocre but it ain’t bad, it is what needs to be
shown to show them forming a soul relationship but I just wish they had done it
a little bit more interesting, better. When I watch that sequence I feel like
not as entertained or critically challenged as I did before and that is what
kind of bumps me. What was still good though was the JFK scene where if you
would not have already guessed what was about to happen you get to know what will
be Frank’s fate after all this. Yes, it will be the same as Kennedy’s: being
killed because you did something good, or in part. But that’s up to you to
decide entirely.
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| His sweater is as cool as JFK, seriously. (4) |
Next is Frank being informed that he is not about to die by a previously
diagnosed brain tumor, that was just a little switch-up and the main worry here
is if the Doctor gets sued or not. Frank then buys an AK-47 from his local gun
supplier who is freaking awesome hilarious – especially the part about the
German weapon, I know it was completely wrong but I laughed my ass off there.
Now the roads were set for an explosive finale, literally as Frank entered the
“American Superstarz”-Finale dressed with some explosives around his body. And
don’t forget the AK-47. But well, thanks for killing that Cowell-dude anyway.
Oh wait, did I say, Simon Cowell? Nah, I meant that judge dude with no visible
connection to Cowell, yeah. And it comes to what it had to from the very
beginning: they make a bloody massacre at the live show and end up getting shot
by the police. It is one hell of a musical showdown GBA delivers and feels just
so righteous set here. It is the only real, true ending to a fantastic movie. It
delivers the message that society is stronger than one or even two characters
in it. You cannot change it without the help of others. But at least, you can
try. By shooting the bad people. Or maybe otherwise, maybe.
REVIEW PART
(yeah, review part in a review, I know: weird)
GBA has one
big lead over most of the other movies, critical ones or not (even the
"Transformers"-franchise if you will): it is not trying to look too real. It is
not forcing false realism on its story and characters which help this movie
feel like the comedy it wants to be. Just take Roxy’s character for example:
she joining forces with Frank so easily, would that have in any way been
realistic? Probably not. And the movie doesn’t want it to be for one simple
reason: if that movie felt as it wanted to be realistic, it would be fatal for
its interpretation. That movie is not, never and to no extent, wanting you to
take participation in society by killing people. How wrong would that be? And
if that were the message, the movie should a) be banned and b) it would lose
its right of existence. But since this is not the case, let’s stop here. My
point being that the movie is not trying to look perfectly real, you look at it
with other eyes and it is with exactly those eyes the movie wants to be looked
at. Cryptic, yes, but let me explain: If you look at that movie with the same
view as you would watch a (let’s stay with one example here) “Transformers”
movie, it is clear that GBA will fail you. You can’t just look at it with your
eyes feasting off the blood hitting the screen or you won’t get to see the
movie’s message in all of that. I’m not one of those guys that are always
seeing things where normally there ain’t sh*t, believe me, I hate those people
from time to time as they can ruin every movie for you if they are getting
really started, but GBA is a different story. It has one central message: its
society criticism. And if you bear that in mind while watching it, that is
enough. The movie then feels… right.
If I have a
favourite scene, you ask? Well, yes, I do. It is also a quite important part of
the movie and Frank’s evolution from average guy to “hero”. My favourite scene
therefore is the “Walk of Fame”. Quite a good name for the scene considering
Frank is indeed walking down the Hollywood Walk of Fame with the AK-47 in its
metal case in his left hand while the music “I’m not like everybody else” is
playing in the background. You see that Frank is now destined for the final
act, for the classic “hero’s death” scene that is so often coming in these
movies that do not necessarily feature a happy end. It is the very moment Frank
doesn’t see himself anymore as the guy that had enough of society but more as
the guy that can and has to change it once and for all. One epic moment there –
definitely one to remember.
What the
movie also does very right is the ending, letting Frank’s “mission” fail
completely as Steven Clark, the “Do uu knooooooooo”-singer kid that could not
sing, told him that he didn’t want to commit suicide because people laughed at
him (and oh, that they did) but because he wasn’t allowed on TV anymore. Sad.
That is really really sad and with just that comment he made everything Frank
stood for in that moment, talking into the cameras, fall into pieces like a
house of cards. Everything was for nothing – which also sealed Frank’s now
immediate death. Also, the re-uniting with Roxy felt good here, it was the right
time, the right moment both for the story and the characters.
The criticism the movie unfolds about a too "un-society"-like society is, at least in my opinion, justified as it is true and a becoming a real problem. Let's not forget that as I won't get into detail about that here.
I won’t
lie, there surely were moments when you thought they could have done that a
little bit different but overall, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome and
afterwards I felt good and I had laughed a lot. So, short but accurate: the
movie did what it wanted, it did not feel forced in any way and everything was
set into picture pleasantly.
And I want to conclude here with a statement by the director himself as it
shows what I tried to explain in the last lines above:
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| "OMG, my statement on 'The Krautics'!"(5) |
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT – BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT
Some folks compare making a movie to
giving birth to a child. There was a lot
of blood and screaming while making GOD
BLESS AMERICA so I guess that is true sometimes. Although a fable, this movie comes from a
really sincere place for me.
It is about how America has become a
cruel and vicious place, while asking the viewer, “Where are we going??” and
“Are you part of the solution or are you part of the problem?” Or at least that is what I hope people take
away from it. If not it’s just a bloody
Valentine to my wife where I get to shoot and kill a baby and a guy who acts a
lot like Simon Cowell. I’m fine either
way.
I’m so happy the movie is playing
Midnight Madness at the Toronto Film Festival.
I was inspired to make GOD BLESS
AMERICA while watching A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE at Midnight Madness two years
ago so I guess it’s the circle of life and death.
If you see me up at the fest please come
up and say “hi” and if you don’t like my new baby just lie.
Word.
Bobcat
Picture and
sound aspects are not part of our sort of review because both is perfect on DVD
as it is on Blu-ray and as a digital download. Of course, they are not the same
but that, obviously, is the fact for every other movie as well and is therefore
excluded here.
GBA brings
its message (that has a right for existence!) across without compromising the
fun factor of itself and provides you with about a 100 minutes of fun and
entertainment that also leave you thinking about some of it. There were minor
factors you could criticize but in the end, what will be remembered is its
(feeling of) awesomeness. Bloody fun.
4/5 stars.
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GOD BLESS AMERICA - CAPTIONS
- Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr in GOD BLESS AMERICA, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
- Joel Murray in GOD BLESS AMERICA, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
- Tara Lynne Barr in GOD BLESS AMERICA, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
- Tara Lynne Barr and Joel Murray in GOD BLESS AMERICA, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
- Bobcat Goldthwait, director of GOD BLESS AMERICA, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
